


no officer i've never smoked weed in my life i swear

by buoyantsaturn



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Medical Student Will Solace, Recreational Drug Use, Shotgunning, Stoner Will Solace, drug dealer nico di angelo, folks we need to work harder to make that a recognized tag, past (accidental?) nico/leo, wrote 5k words specifically to include shotgunning in a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29409102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: Nico was definitely the best dealer on campus, and that wasn’t him bragging. It was the truth. Aside from one jumpscare incident, Nico never had any complaints.
Relationships: Cecil Markowitz & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo & Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 21
Kudos: 113





	no officer i've never smoked weed in my life i swear

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhhh whats up folks this is a weed fic  
> disclaimer is ive never smoked weed in my life but one time this girl i like got high and sat on my lap and that was like. effervescent. anyway. that's 10:37pm that's a different fic i'm getting carried away
> 
> i hope you enjoy this nonsense! seriously i dont know anything do NOT quote me here

Nico and Leo moved into an apartment off campus for their junior year at New Rome University, because it was much easier to grow pot when they weren’t living in a dorm room. They also were not technically allowed to set foot inside any campus housing anymore, but that wasn’t because of the pot. (That one was because of the adderall.) 

Nico would have been fine with getting kicked out of school altogether after the adderall incident - he had only agreed to go to college because Percy and Jason were there, but they’d graduated at the end of last semester - but his father never would have let that happen, and fought against the school to keep Nico from getting expelled. Nico demanded he fight on Leo’s behalf as well, or else he might fail his entire next semester on purpose. 

So, somehow, they got to stay in school, Leo got to keep his scholarship, and they got to keep growing pot. (There was also a constant flow of adderall into the apartment, though Nico never knew where it came from.) However, no on-campus housing meant no meal plan, and while Nico’s father agreed to pay for their apartment, they were on their own for food. 

Long story short, that’s how Nico became a drug dealer. 

The dealing was all on him because, again, he couldn’t care less if he got kicked out of school, unlike Leo who actually  _ wanted _ to be there. And finally all that adderall could get put to good use. What college student  _ wouldn’t _ buy weed and adderall from that one kid who always sat in the back of the class, if he ever showed up at all? So while Nico was out on campus dealing, Leo was either in his engineering classes or back at home tending to the pot plants or counting out pills for Nico to sell later in the week. 

It was a good system. Kinda crazy, though, that neither of them had ever been big pot smokers. Really, Nico had just thought it would be funny to try to grow pot on campus, and now they’re stuck with the plants. And he was pretty sure Leo was supposed to be on adderall, so maybe that’s where it kept coming from. 

Maybe Nico should be taking adderall, then maybe his brain would stop jumping around so much from one topic to the next. 

Whatever.

Leo liked to jokingly call Nico the hottest drug dealer on campus -  _ “in more ways than one,” _ usually said with a wink, usually in an attempt to get them a new client - and Nico knew it was a joke because Leo was only interested in looking at guys, not dating them. (He claimed he needed to pass on his “fantastic genetic structure” to the next generation.) (Also they made out at a party once and neither of them were really feeling it afterwards, so.)

Nico was definitely the best dealer on campus, and that wasn’t him bragging. It was the truth. His product was always legit, and he always had enough supply to meet demand, and he didn’t act like a creep around any of the girls he sold to, because he wasn’t interested. (And because he was a decent person, thank you.) He had creeped out a few guys before, but that’s only because he was wearing all black late at night and nobody had known he was standing there. So, aside from one jumpscare incident, Nico never had any complaints. 

Which was how their client base kept growing. And if that didn’t stop soon, they were going to run out of goods. He liked keeping a low client count, because it lowered the risk of any snitches, because - look, just because Nico didn’t care if he got caught didn’t mean he  _ wanted _ to.

In between classes, he tended to hang around the fountain at the center of campus. It made it easier for people to find him to buy from him, but, unfortunately, it also made it easier for potential new customers to track him down. Because it wasn’t exactly hard to miss the guy who was frequently described as “the scene kid who’s always reading books by the fountain.” Really,  _ scene kid _ wasn’t exactly his first choice. 

His philosophy professor had required the class to read  _ The Communist Manifesto, _ which Nico had assumed was a joke at first, and yet there he was, sitting under the shade of a tree near the fountain, reading the words of Comrade Marx when somebody walked up to him. He wasn’t a usual client - he wasn’t even somebody that Nico had ever seen before, because he would  _ not _ have forgotten that face - so Nico, untrustworthy as he was, subtly prepared himself to run before asking, “Can I help you?” 

“Um, hi,” the guy said - blond, blue eyes, freckles, a smile that had Nico torn between wanting to either punch him or kiss him - and he glanced around nervously. That set off alarm bells in Nico’s head, so he slowly started packing up his backpack. “I’m here for, uh… A friend sent me?” 

Nico rose to his feet. Blondie was a good six inches taller than him at  _ least, _ and Nico still wasn’t sure whether he should grab those golden curls to pull him into a kiss or smash his face into the tree behind him. What was it about seeing a pretty guy that made Nico want to choose violence? “Are you a cop?”

The guy frowned and waited a second too long before replying, “No?”

Nico shouldered his bag, already backing away as he said, “I don’t talk to narcs.” 

He hoped nobody else came around looking to buy while he was gone, because there was no way he was hanging around campus any longer, afternoon class or not. Besides, most of his clients had his number and usually texted him their orders ahead of time, so he was probably safe to head home and scream into a pillow for the next few hours.

Why did God have to make some boys so  _ pretty? _

* * *

Nico was on high alert the next few times he went to campus. He couldn’t focus on his book because every time he saw a head of blond hair or a flash of a flannel shirt, his head snapped up and he lost his place on the page. He wanted to get another look at the guy, but at the same time, what if the dude  _ was _ a narc, and came back with the cops or something? (Campus police meant nothing. Nico could outrun campus police no problem. Real cops? Those were a problem.)

He almost had a heart attack when he saw a head of curls approaching him, though he relaxed when he realized the guy’s hair was brown and had just caught the sun in just the right way. Then he noticed the guy’s much taller friend and felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. 

The shorter of the two was one of Nico’s infrequent clients - Cecil, he was pretty sure, though he was such a rare customer that Nico hadn’t bothered exchanging phone numbers with him. That was more often reserved for the weekly customers. So, if he was showing up with Cecil, then Tall, Blond, and Handsome (and no, Nico would never refer to him as that again because it felt gross and didn’t even sum up the dude’s attractiveness all that well) must not have been lying about being sent by a friend. Okay, so maybe Nico felt a little bad about running off now. But for the sake of his sanity, he kept it at  _ a little bad. _

“Hey, Nico,” most likely Cecil said with a grin as he stopped a few feet away from him. “This is my buddy, Will--” he slapped God’s most beautiful creation on the chest with the back of his hand as he spoke, “--and I promise he’s not a narc.” 

Nico gave Will a once-over (because he felt like the situation called for it, and when else was he going to get the chance?) specifically so that he could shoot Cecil a look that said,  _ are you sure about that? _

“Okay, yeah, he has the personality and, like,  _ face _ of a narc,” Cecil relented, “but he won’t narc on  _ you. _ Right, Will?” 

Will was pouting down at his friend. “Hang on, can we go back to the  _ face of a narc _ thing? What’s that even  _ mean?” _

“I think it’s the, uh,” Nico started, though he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to finish that sentence. The  _ all-American boy _ look? The fact that he looked like every girl’s (and half the boys’) wet dream? Just the general vibe of him? “Blond.”

Will’s nose scrunched up, and Nico thought the butterflies in his stomach were going to make him puke. “What, blonds can’t smoke weed now?” 

Nico blinked in surprise. He wasn’t sure why, but… Huh. Maybe he’d never seen a blond smoke weed before. “You want pot?” he asked dumbly. 

“Um. Yeah?” Will’s head tilted to the side in his own confusion, and Nico really wished he would stop...existing in ways that made Nico feel things. “Is that...okay?” 

“Yeah, of course,” Nico replied as he reached for his backpack. “I just thought, um. You look more like the type to try adderall because you think it’ll raise your test scores, or something.”

Cecil laughed, even though Nico hadn’t said anything funny. “Yeah, no. The last thing this dude needs is to focus  _ more _ on studying. Just the weed will be fine.” 

“Buds or edibles?” Nico said, shifting into sales mode. When he didn’t receive an immediate answer, he glanced up at Will, who suddenly turned pink and turned to Cecil.

“Buds,” Cecil answered. 

Nico nodded and abandoned his search through his bag, stuffing his hands into the massive pockets of his coat instead. One hand resurfaced with a ziploc of buds, and the other with a sleeve of thin paper. “Do you need rolling papers? Because those are extra.” 

“Nah, I have a bong somewhere,” Cecil told him. “And worst case scenario, Will’s kind of a health nut, so we’ll just use one of his apples.” 

Will looked as Cecil as if the guy had just insulted his favorite grandma. “You’re going to do  _ what _ with my apples?” 

Cecil waved him off with one hand and took the baggie of weed with the other. “Don’t look at me like that. C’mon, dude, pay the man.” 

“Right.” Will reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet, already leafing through the small amount of bills inside before he asked, “How much do I owe you?” 

Nico raised an eyebrow. “Do you have Venmo?” 

* * *

Will had this sort of southern charm that Leo always claimed to have but never expressed. He was always way more polite than any person had ever been to Nico - though it became clear pretty quickly that Will also suffered from anxiety, so that probably had something to do with it - and he had this smile that made Nico feel light headed. 

He’d been showing up alone ever since that one time Cecil came with him (and yes, Nico was sure that it was Cecil now, because Will had mentioned him a few times.), so Nico had wound up having to play educator a few times when Will didn’t quite know what he was looking for. 

It was also becoming increasingly clear to Leo that Nico had a crush, because more often than not, Nico was coming home, flopping down onto the couch and complaining about how this guy smiled too much, or how his eyes were  _ too blue. _ It was something of a role-reversal between the two of them, since it was usually Leo who wailed about matters of the heart. (Except for those two weeks during sophomore year when they realized that they’d both had a crush on Jason.) (God, Nico had smoked more weed in those two weeks than most people did in their entire  _ life.) _

“Alright, who is this guy?” Leo demanded as he set down whatever tool he was using to build the robot of the week. 

Nico sat up and shot his roommate a look. “You...want to talk about boys with me?”

Leo rolled his eyes. “It’s better that you get it out of your system so I can go back to working on this bad boy.” 

“It’s just that…” Nico waved an arm, as if hoping the gesture would articulate his words for him. “I thought we were still in the  _ pretending you’re not bi _ phase.” 

“Who said I’m pretending?” Leo asked, throwing a screw that bounced off Nico’s forehead. “I can be bi and still have a preference. I dated you, didn’t I?” 

_ “What?” _ Nico threw the screw back. “No, you didn’t.” 

“Dude, we went on, like, four dates.”

“We  _ didn’t!” _

“I kissed you on the one!” 

“I thought we were just hanging out!” 

Leo clutched at his chest, directly over his heart. “Neeks, baby, you’re breaking my heart. I used all my best moves on you!” 

“Don’t call me baby,” Nico said immediately, and then, “And, uh. Sorry?” 

Leo dropped the dramatics with a wave of his hand. “Whatever, I’ve been over it. So, who’s the guy? What do we know about him?” 

“His name’s Will.” Nico paused. What else did he know about him?

“Great! I bet there’s only, like, fifty of those on campus.” 

“Shut up.” Nico reached for something else to throw at him, which happened to be an unused plastic knife from the takeout they’d gotten the night before. “He’s, uh. Tall and blond? Probably southern? I dunno, he wears a lot of flannel, and-- Okay, so the last time I saw him, he was wearing a jean jacket with some pins on it, and there was this one… I think  _ maybe _ it was a bi thing, but maybe it just had all the same colors?” 

“It’s a pin on a jean jacket,” Leo repeated. “It’s a  _ bi thing.” _

“How would you know?” Nico said with a huff, and immediately regretted his words when Leo said, “So, on our first date, we went out to this--”

“Okay, okay!” Nico shouted over him. “God, okay, I’m the  _ worst, _ I get it.” 

“Damn right.” He sniffled and wiped away a fake tear. “I thought you might’ve been  _ the one.” _

Nico buried his face in his hands and groaned. 

“So, do you have his number?” Leo asked. 

Nico lifted his head. “Will’s?” 

“No, the guy who dropped off our Chinese food last night.  _ Yes, _ Will’s.” 

“Oh. Um, yeah. Why?” 

“You should text him.” 

“And why the  _ hell _ would I do that?” Nico demanded. 

Leo snapped his fingers a few times and leaned closer. “Babe, babe, look at me.” He snapped again, right in front of Nico’s nose, and he slapped Leo’s hand away. Leo told him, slowly and carefully. “Text the pretty boy and ask him on a date.” 

Nico scrambled to think of  _ any _ reason not to do that. (Because he’s a coward.) “If he says no, then we’ll lose a customer.” 

“So what? More drugs for me.” 

“Neither of us have smoked in, like, a year,” Nico pointed out. (But  _ God _ could he go for an edible right now.) 

“He’s only buying weed?” Leo frowned. “Dude, you gotta start pushing the adderall a little more.”

“So that you run out and start bouncing off the walls again? No thanks.” 

“It’s so sweet that you’re always looking out for me,” Leo cooed as he grabbed one of Nico’s hands, then pressed a kiss to his knuckles. Nico yanked his hand back and shoved him away. “Anyway, I totally thought you were talking about Will Solace, and he seems much more like the adderall type than the weed type. Dude’s, like, ambitious.”

“Will Solace?” Nico repeated. Yeah, that name seemed fitting for his Will. (Shut up, he’s not  _ your Will, _ idiot.)

“Yeah,” Leo replied. “Remember that one time when I signed up for that Latin class because Jason was TAing and I thought he’d help me cheat? Will Solace was in that class, but he was taking it to, like, make all his future science classes easier on him, or something. I think he was a biomed major.”

Nico nodded. “He does only show up when he’s stressed about some test he has coming up… Maybe it is the same guy.” 

“Oh! And I think he’s from Texas, too,” Leo added, then smacked Nico’s shoulder with the back of his hand. “Dude, if you choose some white guy from Texas over the  _ real deal--” _ he gestured to himself, “--I’ll slap you.” 

* * *

Nico never found the courage to text Will, despite how often Leo pestered him about it. He also didn’t see Will for about another two weeks, which he tried not to feel too bummed about. (It’s not like they were  _ friends.) _ So when midterms rolled around and Nico was suddenly swarmed with people needing adderall for studying and weed to wind down after, he saw Will again. 

He looked even more nervous than usual, though Nico blamed that on the numerous tests he was no doubt stressing over. (Nico had a few of those himself, but he was pretty sure he would scrape by with a C at least.) Still, he gave Nico that butterfly-inducing smile and greeted Nico with a, “Hey.” 

“Hi,” Nico replied. “The usual?” 

Will nodded, and added, “And, um, you said I would need some specific paper to smoke it without a bong, right? Do you have those, too?” 

Nico pulled a pre-portioned bag of weed out of one pocket of his jacket, and a sleeve of rolling papers out of the other. “That’ll be an extra five dollars.” 

Will slipped his phone out of his pocket and tapped on the screen a few times until Nico felt his own phone buzz against his thigh. He handed over the product. Will stuffed the weed into his pocket right away, but frowned down at the rolling papers for another moment. 

“Do you, um.” Will took a deep breath. “Do you ever smoke alone? I’ve only done it once, but it wasn’t all that fun for me. I mean, if anything, it just made me even more panicked because I was afraid something was gonna happen, and I didn’t have anyone around to help.” 

Nico shrugged. He didn’t usually stick around to chat with his clients, so he was sort of at a loss for what to do.

“It’s just that, um. Well, Cecil went home for the weekend.” 

Nico waited for Will to continue, and when he didn’t, Nico said, “So?”

“And I don’t, um, know how to roll a joint. Do you think you could show me?” Will asked. “You could come over, and obviously you could hang out to smoke if you wanted. You know, to, like, repay the favor?” 

Nico blinked. “You want me to come smoke with you?” 

“It’s okay if you’re busy!” Will said hurriedly, waving the hand that still held the rolling papers between them. “I just, uh, kinda really need this right now, and it’s probably pretty obvious that I don’t know what I’m doing.” 

“Yeah,” Nico replied. “Pretty obvious. So, did you wanna do this now, or should I meet up with you later?” 

Will scratched at the back of his neck. “Well, I was hoping for now, but--” 

Nico had already shouldered his backpack and cut in with, “Alright, lead the way.” 

Nico hadn’t been inside the dorms in almost a year, but if he’d known how easy it was to sneak in, he probably would’ve done it before, just for fun. (He didn’t bother mentioning to Will that he technically wasn’t allowed to be there. He figured Will didn’t need the added anxiety.) 

Will let him into a room that was nearly identical to the one that Nico and Leo had lived in before (when they were apparently dating? He still tried not to think about that). There were two twin beds pushed up against opposite walls, a handful of posters over each bed, and one desk that was much more cluttered by textbooks than the other. Nico let himself look around before getting comfortable on the floor between the two beds, while Will stuffed a towel under the door and cracked open a window.

Nico watched him with a fond smile. It was cute that Will thought RAs cared at all about smoking in the dorms. (At least, Nico’s freshman year RA hadn’t cared. She was also Nico’s dealer at the time, so maybe he didn’t actually know what he was talking about.) 

After finishing his preparations, Will joined Nico on the floor, leaning back against the side of the bed that Nico assumed belonged to him. (Will seemed like the type to have a Star Wars poster on the wall, but what did Nico know?) “Okay, can you walk me through it?” Will asked, taking out the weed and papers he’d just bought and holding them out for Nico. He took them with a nod, and started through the process. 

It had been a while since Nico had last done this, so he added a little less weed than he might have in the past, and he didn’t know Will’s tolerance, so he figured he shouldn’t push it. Once he had the joint rolled tight, he lifted it to his mouth to lick across the edge of the paper in order to keep it in place, like sealing an envelope. As he ran his tongue along the paper, Nico’s eyes flickered up to find Will watching him intently, his own gaze locked on Nico’s mouth. Nico snapped his jaw shut so quickly that he nearly bit off his tongue. (And he was really wishing he’d filled that blunt a little more.) 

He coughed awkwardly after sealing the joint, and passed it to Will as he said, “It’s all set.”

Will grinned, and Nico  _ really _ wished he would stop looking at him like that, because Nico was pretty sure he was developing premature heart problems. Will put the end of the blunt between his lips, then started patting his pockets. “Shit, do you have a lighter? I think Cecil took his.” 

“Huh?” Nico’s eyes caught on the way Will’s lips moved around the blunt, and his brain refused to process the words. 

“Lighter?” Will repeated.

Nico fished one out of his pockets. It was one of Leo’s, he was pretty sure, because he always stole Leo’s lighters to make sure he didn’t accidentally burn the place down. (Lighters were  _ not _ fidget toys, no matter how fun they were to spark.) Rather than doing the sane thing and passing the lighter over, Nico sparked it and held the flame out toward Will. He grinned at Nico again, and leaned into the light. 

Nico was lucky the lighter didn’t slip through his fingers. He needed Will to hurry up, because Nico needed to get high  _ right now _ and forget any of this ever happened. He tried not to watch too closely as Will inhaled, only paying enough attention to take the joint when it was handed back to him. As Nico started to take a hit, Will leaned back to exhale, his head tipping and his neck elongating to blow the smoke straight up into the air.

Nico choked, coughing on the smoke stuck in his through. God, what kind of a drug dealer chokes on  _ weed? _

Will set a hand on Nico’s shoulder, which only succeeded in making him  _ wheeze, _ and he asked, “Are you okay?” 

With one last big cough, Nico nodded, and took a deep breath. “Fine,” he replied, and looked pointedly away to take another hit.

In between hits, Will started talking. Nico had already gathered that he was chatty, but the weed must have been soothing his anxiety in a way that made him almost impossible to shut up. (Not that Nico minded. Will had a nice voice. Nico could listen to that voice for the rest of his life.) He talked about a few of his upcoming tests that had him nervous, and rambled a bit about how he was on track to become a doctor. Though, with how stressed out he always was about his classes, Will had started wondering if he was going to make it that far. 

Nico tried his best to listen. Will was pouring his heart out over here, so Nico really should pay more attention to his words than the way his lips formed words and how his hands moved through the air like he was painting an invisible picture. 

And really, with how focused Nico was on Will’s hands, he should have noticed when one was coming right at his face. 

“Oh my God!” Will exclaimed, taking Nico’s face gently between his hands. “I’m  _ so _ sorry, are you okay? It was an accident, I swear!” 

Nico blinked a few times to shake off the shock of getting hit, and when his eyes focused, his breath caught in his throat. Will really was... _ very _ close to him right now. Like, kissing distance close. And the way he was pouting would have made it all the more perfect to just--

“Nico?” 

“I’m good,” Nico replied, reaching up for one of Will’s hands to pull it away from his face. His skin was so warm and soft, and-- “Holy shit, you have  _ really _ big hands.” 

“Do I?” Will asked. He straightened out his fingers and held his palm against Nico’s. The tips of his fingers could almost curl over the tops of Nico’s own. Will’s eyes flickered between their hands and Nico’s face. “Well, you know what they say about big hands.” 

Nico’s heart skipped a beat. Was he flirting? Was Will  _ flirting with him? _ “Um--” 

“Warm heart!” Will interlaced their fingers and squeezed Nico’s hand. 

Nico could only stare dumbfounded for a few seconds before he burst out laughing, shouting, “It’s  _ cold hands, _ you idiot!” 

Will’s laughter joined his after a moment or two, and Nico kept laughing past the point where he couldn’t really breathe anymore. The only thing that finally pulled him out of his state was a sudden stinging against his fingers. 

He glanced down at the forgotten joint in his hand, practically burned down to a roach.

“Aw man,” Will said sadly, “it’s all gone.” 

Nico looked up. Will was somehow even closer than he’d been before - hunching over from laughing so much must have drawn him in. One of his hands was still holding Nico’s between them, while the other had only recently fallen away from Nico’s face. “We can make it last,” Nico whispered, the words falling out from between his lips without thought. “Have you ever shotgunned?” 

Will’s head tilted in confusion. “Like, in a car?” 

Nico snorted, but refused to let himself dissolve into giggles once more. He pried his hand out of Will’s with some difficulty and reached up to cradle Will’s jaw while he brought the last of the blunt up to his lips. “We’re gonna, like, share the smoke, okay?” 

Will nodded, barely more than a quick jerk of his head, and Nico took the last hit. He breathed in quick and deep, trying not to let his lips burn against the smoldering edge of the paper. He leaned in close, so close that his lips almost brushed against Will’s, and he breathed the smoke into Will’s awaiting mouth. 

Nico felt a puff of air against his cheek, and watched as the smoke rose up between them. “You were supposed to breathe it in,” Nico whispered, holding back his laughter as best he could. 

Will’s eyes were angled down, but they were so close that Nico couldn’t see what he was looking at. “Oh.” 

Nico let out a giggle, stubbing out the blunt in the carpet without realizing that maybe he shouldn’t do that. Then Will’s hand was on his cheek once more, angling Nico’s chin up so that their eyes met. 

“You look pretty when you smile like that,” Will told him. 

And then they were kissing.

And Nico couldn’t see straight.

Or maybe they were just too close, and his eyes couldn’t focus.

Or maybe he was just really,  _ really _ high.

Nico woke up in a bed, which was not how he remembered falling asleep. (He didn’t remember falling asleep. Did anybody ever remember falling asleep? God, was he  _ still high?) _

He was still high. He didn’t know how long he’d slept for, but it must have been a while if the sun was shining through the window with that much force. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so high that his head was still fuzzy when he woke up the next morning. 

Nico sat up and looked around. His coat and shoes were in a pile on the floor, underneath the cheek of a still-sleeping blond who was using them as a pillow (which couldn’t have been very comfortable). (Also Nico was pretty sure Will was drooling on his coat.) He picked up his own pillow  _ (Will’s _ pillow) and dropped it off the side of the bed. Will woke with a start. 

“Why are you sleeping on the floor?” Nico asked. 

Will looked around in confusion, halfway to sitting up, though he couldn’t seem to give himself that final push. “Because you’re in my bed.” 

Nico pointed across the room. “So sleep in that one.” 

Will glanced over his shoulder, then frowned up at Nico. “That’s not my bed.” 

Nico laid back down, resting on his side, so that he and Will were nearly eye-to-eye. “Are you still high, too?” 

“High... _ two?” _ Will repeated. “Did we get so high that we reached, like, another  _ level _ of highness?” He paused. “Are we royalty now because of our  _ highness?” _

Nico tucked his face against the mattress in an attempt to hide his laughter, though he still had one eye open to see the way Will smiled, as if proud of his own dumb joke. “I take it you don’t normally smoke that much.” 

“Oh, I smoke a  _ lot,” _ Will replied. “Just not all at the same time. Cecil usually stops me before I go too far. I mean, I told you before. I don’t know what I’m doing.” 

Nico turned onto his stomach and crossed his arms under his head. “Your friend monitors your weed intake  _ while high?” _

Will rolled his eyes. “Look, we can’t all be bad boy types like you, who know how to handle their own drug consumption.” 

Nico snorted, then leaned a little further over the side of the bed.  _ “Bad boy? _ I’m going on, like, sixty hours of not taking this hoodie off. I’m not a  _ bad boy, _ I'm  _ lazy.” _ He grinned down at Will. “If anything, I think  _ you’re _ the bad boy here. Sneaking me into your dorm, smoking inside, letting some guy sleep in your bed, making out with your drug dealer.” 

Will’s eyes were wide with surprise. “Did you just call me a  _ bad boy?” _

Nico set his head back down and shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, but I take it back. There’s literally no universe where you could ever be the bad boy. You’re too…” He paused, glancing around as if to find the word, and settled on, “Sunshiney.” 

Will nodded, and finally gave himself that last push to sit upright. “Okay, but you implied that I have a few bad boy tendencies. Like...making out with my drug dealer.” 

“I don’t think it counts as a tendency if it only happens the one time.” 

Will leaned closer, resting one elbow on the edge of the mattress. “What if I want it to happen more than once? Maybe even...a few times?” His eyes flickered down to Nico’s lips, like all the talk of making out made him want to start now. (Nico certainly wouldn’t mind getting that ball rolling.) “And...maybe after I take you out for dinner?” 

Nico rolled to his side and propped himself up on an elbow, one eyebrow cocked. “Are you asking me on a date?” 

The question seemed to make Will shy away, even if the distance between them didn’t change. “Maybe it’s just a thank you for teaching me how to roll a joint.” 

Nico leaned in. “Yeah, I think I’d prefer the date.” 

Will met Nico’s gaze with a hopeful look. “You would?”

Nico hummed an affirmative, then patted the space beside him. “Now, would you come up here so we can make that tendency a reality?” 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! if anybody has any drug usage corrections for me please keep them to yourself bc i dont need children teaching me how to properly use drugs thanks


End file.
